12 more Miami-Dade schools employees among confirmed COVID-19 cases, dashboard shows
Miami-Dade County Public Schools has confirmed nearly 30 COVID-19 cases since schools reopened for in-person learning last week, with 12 new staffers’ cases reported Thursday, according to the school district’s COVID-19 dashboard.
No new student cases were added, leaving the student count at 14, and the employee count at 14, up from two on Wednesday.
The employees could be teachers, custodians, or cafeteria and office workers.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools spokeswoman Jaquelyn Calzadilla would not say how many, and if any, of the employees who tested positive are teachers.
One of the new employee cases was reported at Miami Beach Senior High School, 2231 Prairie Ave., and another was reported at Hammocks Middle School, 9889 Hammocks Blvd. Neither school has any confirmed student cases listed.
Two more employees have also tested positive at Poinciana Park Elementary, 6745 NW 23rd Ave., in Liberty City bringing the school’s COVID-19 count to three employees and no students. An employee added to the dashboard Thursday afternoon works at Bel-Aire Elementary, 10205 SW 194th St. in Cutler Bay.
The following schools also reported one positive employee case Thursday: Arcola Lake Elementary School; Ernest R. Graham Elementary; Ethel K. Beckham Elementary; Eugenia B. Thomas K-8; Holmes Elementary; North Hialeah Elementary and Sunset Park Elementary.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools has previously told the Miami Herald that the COVID-19 Dashboard is programmed to look for new data several times a day and will be updated when the new data is found with confirmed cases only.
The district said employee cases are added if they are self-reported or confirmed by the Florida Department of Health. Student cases, including those that are self-reported, are added as they are confirmed by the Florida Department of Health. The dashboard will not include online-only students or employees who are not working on campus.
Coral Park Elementary, which reopened Thursday after it switched to online learning for a day because an employee and three students had tested positive for COVID-19, still does not have the third student case listed on the dashboard. NBC 6 reported the employee is a teacher, but the district declined to comment.
The school closed Wednesday for a deep cleaning and to give officials time to contact those who may have been exposed to the employee and students.
The first Miami-Dade County public school to close for a deep cleaning was MAST Academy, a 6-12 school on the Rickenbacker Causeway with 1,500 students. It switched to online learning Monday after two students tested positive for COVID-19. The marine magnet school reopened Tuesday.
More than 45 Broward County public schools staff members and one student have also tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to the latest available information Thursday. The numbers came out four days after Broward public schools opened their doors to students for in-person learning. Broward will not update its numbers until Friday.
Miami Herald staff writer David Goodhue contributed to this report.
This story was originally published October 15, 2020 at 9:57 AM.
